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Delhumide
Delhumide Once the most populous district of old Thay in the days of Mulhorandi rule, the tharch of Delhumide is now thinly settled. Stretching from Lake Thaylambar to the Gorge of Gauros and bounded on the east and west by the River Thay and the River Gauros, Delhumide is a broad land of open plains and few people. The tharch could easily support a much greater population, except that demons, ghosts, and sleeping spells of deadly malevolence taint the countryside for miles around the ruins of the old capital and the province’s abandoned estates. With the exception of some farmland along the river valleys, Delhumide is mostly used as open range for large herds of cattle. Tharchion Invarri Metron governs the land from his palace at Umratharos, a small city at the bend of the River Thay. He has little interest in the ruins of the old capital but is happy to collect a cut of any wealth recovered by adventurers picking through the wreckage. History 23.000 years ago, when Thay had been a Mulhorandi colony, Delhumide was one of its greatest cities and bastions of power. When the Red Wizards rebelled, they destroyed the town, using the darkest sort of sorcery to accomplish their task. In 1375 DR, the ground where the city's ruins still stood was still unclean. Demons walked there and a man could suffer from madness or leprosy just by venturing there. Shattered battlemets and toppled towers could be seen though many of the buildings remained essentially intact. The Imperial Portal The year 922 DR saw the battle of Thazalhar and the liberation of Thay from Mulhorand. But what was Thay like before that? Not very different, actually. Slavery was still common, and the people were largely the same in nationality. Mulhorand had a vast empire at that time that stretched from the River Angol to Lake Mulsantir, and even held Rashemen for a short time. An empire that stretches over 750 miles from its capital to its furthest northern point needs effective communication and transportation to remain united, and the Mulhorandi used magic for these purposes. One of their accomplishments was the creation of a portal from the capital in Skuld to the imperial capital in Delhumide. This continuously active portal stood 10 feet high and 5 feet wide, and it was set inside a normal-looking doorway. This doorway stood in the cellar of the imperial capital headquarters, and the headquarters were destroyed when the Red Wizards sacked the city. But portals cannot be destroyed so easily, and the portal survives somewhere in the ruins of Delhumide. Finding it in the ruins requires magic, and even that is an iffy prospect, since so much magic was used to sack the city that it permeates the very stones that remain. Many adventurers have searched the ruins without discovering even that a portal might exist there. The portal is now forgotten, since the current-day Red Wizards were not alive back then. It is not forgotten in Mulhorand, however. More properly, someone just found it. When the imperial capital was destroyed, the Mulhorandi rulers stopped using the portal, and everyone eventually forgot about it. Recently, an up-and-coming cleric of Anhur found a secret door that led to the portal while exploring the old library. He has brought the portal's existence to the attention of the church, and the leaders of Mulhorand finally see a way to strike at Thay from within, bypassing much of the Thayan military. To secure this new secret beachhead, the priest-rulers of Mulhorand have sent Anuk-Ibin through the portal. Anuk-Ibin now lives in the ruins of Delhumide and uses magic to disguise his presence when needed. Anuk-Ibin was a thief who converted to the worship of Anhur and rose in the church as he gained wisdom. The head priests saw in him talents for infiltration and clever planning, and so they set him to learning wizardry so that he could impersonate Red Wizards of Thay if needed. He discovered that he has a natural aptitude for wizardry and has perhaps found his true calling at last. He is a very powerful wizard now and happy to serve his god by infiltrating Thay. He dresses like a Red Wizard and even has some tattoos on his shaved head to complete his guise. He is middle-aged and a little on the hefty side, but he fits right in with what one expects a Red Wizard to look like. He has successfully bluffed a couple of adventuring parties while in Delhumide, and even another Red Wizard that came to explore the ruins. Anuk-Ibin is determined to succeed here, which means not only gaining as much intelligence as possible about the Thayan situation but also by preparing the area for the Mulhorandi army to occupy. He has even started making in-roads with the slave underground, though the slaves don't know what to make of him just yet and remain suspicious. Category:Settlements in Thay Category:Ruined settlements